Buried Treasure

After planting, Adam threw the trowel down to make it stick in the grass; but instead it went "ping!" and bounced back up. Upon further investigation we discovered a PATIO under the grass! A patio people! The brick covers 22 x 16 feet. We are currently in the process of uncovering this treasure. Party at our house!!!...in about a week....

Other Discoveries

Baking Powder and Salt Kill Fleas.

After getting bit six times on one foot we discovered the previous renters had left us with fleas, even though the carpet was new.

Solution: Baking powder and salt sprinkled on all the carpets, then vacuumed at least a day later. This dries out the fleas and their eggs. Yes this works. After doing it twice for good measure, we are and have been for a while...flea free. (Use a water vacuum for double killing action.)

Boric Acid Kills Cockroaches.

In cleaning out the cupboards for move-in, I found what I thought was mouse poopies inside the cupboards. Then I remembered something Jamie said...cockroaches poop. Off to the store to buy Borax. Disclaimer: Cockroaches are a natural pest in Texas. If you live here, you're going to have to deal with them.

Below: Adam wears "protection" while spraying bug poison on the yard. The stuff works great, kills 150 different bugs (we were after the fleas) and only costs $9.00. It's called Ortho Bug B Gone.

Vinegar Removes Odor.

I mentioned earlier that we got new carpets (and vinyl, yes!) but it didn't completely take care of the dog odor. After washing the walls we diluted vinegar with water and sprayed it onto the walls of my office and rubbed it in with a rag. About five days later...NO MORE SMELL. We'll be doing other parts of the house soon. I also put some vinegar in a cup and placed it under a sink cupboard that was putting off a foul stench. It's working.

Color Theory.

I won't tell you how many times we painted the kitchen before we got the right color. (Ahem, four) nor how many times we painted the living room (cough, twice). The colors we were choosing all seemed to look purple on the walls. We thought they were picking up the overtones of the carpet color which seemed to lean to the purple spectrum. Turns out we were wrong.

The windows had been tinted with a purplish film! Before I could stop him Adam had a corner peeled off. Next he was scraping the glue off and then...poof; no more purple looking carpet or paint! Oh brother. You can see the difference on two of the windows he's finished above.

Finally all the cleaning and the fixing, things are dying down a little and we are 95% moved in. It doesn't quite feel like home yet to me...but it's getting there and I think I will like it all more because now my elbow grease has been rubbed all over it.